In the Danish town of Odense, all the signposts carry an extra arm. It
points the way to Andersens Hus, where in 1805 an ugly duckling named
Hans Christian Andersen was born. The world today needs no introduction
to this cobbler's son whose fairy stories, published in dozens of
tongues, will last as long as there are children to hear them. Andersen
did not write them for children, or for money or fame, although the
stories brought him both. He wrote them for himself, and Novelist
Monica Stirling's tender...